The Tri-lemma

The Tri-lemma;

OR,

DEATH BY THREE HORNS

PROTESTANTS AN NOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

"ARE THE BAPTISMS OF THE ROMISH CHURCH VALID?"

CATHOLICS, FREE-WILL BAPTISTS, CAMPBELLITES, AND

ANTI-MISSIONARY BAPTISTS CAN NOT ANSWER THIS:

"ARE THE BAPTISMS OF BAPTIST CHURCHES VALID?"

By J. R. GRAVES, LL.D.,

Editor of "Tennessee Baptist," Author of "Great Iron Wheel," "Bible Doctrine

of Middle Life," "Seven Dispensations," "Old Landmarkism--What is it?"

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"The Baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? Answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying: If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people . . . And they answered and said unto Jesus, We can not tell." -- Mark 11:30-33

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Published by

Baptist Sunday School Committee

Texarkana, Ark.--Tex.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION ENLARGED.

TRI-LEMMA! Tri-lemma! What does the word mean, and of what does the book treat?

When one is pinned between two perils we say he is in a dilemma--i.e., between two horns. When he is pinned between two, and pierced by a third, may we not say he is in a Tri-lemma?

It will be remembered that when the Pharisees upon one occasion demanded of Christ his authority for what he did in cleansing the temple of money changers and thieves, He replied: "I will also ask of you one question: The baptism of John, was it from heaven [i.e., valid], or of men? [invalid] answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, if we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people . . . And they answered and said unto Jesus, We CAN NOT TELL." -- Mark xi. 29-33. These Pharisees and deceivers of the multitudes were evidently in a tri-lemma, for they were self-condemned when they said they could not tell. Had they decided according to the evidences before their eyes, they could have answered Jesus correctly, but they were influenced by other motives than a desire to be governed by the truth. This circumstance suggested the title of this little book; for Protestants, when asked if Catholic baptisms are valid, "reason among themselves," and when they see that they are unbaptized and unchurched, answer it as they may, they answer: "We can not tell," when they know and can tell, if they would but admit the plain truth.

After twenty years I have been able to finish and re-issue this little volume. it was hastily prepared and put before the public when the action of the Presbyterian Assembly touching Romish baptisms was awakening inquiry. The Assembly had suppressed the discussions, and thousands were anxious to learn all that could be known of what had transpired upon its floor, and the positions their leaders had taken pro and con. This book was the only source of information attainable by the people of the transactions of the Old and New School Presbyterian Assemblies in America, and it is to-day. Its object was to widely extend and deepen the interest of the Protestant laity in this question of Romish baptisms, since their grave and reverent Doctors had declared and demonstrated the fact that whether valid, or invalid, all Protestant ministers were unbaptized, and unordained, and without authority to preach, and the entire laity were also unbaptized and unchurched! I have had the pleasing evidence from all parts of the continent, even from distant Oregon, that the little Book has done "yeoman service" in leading Protestants to seek a baptism that was not derived from "The Man of Sin," and church relationships in churches that never symbolized with the Papacy.

I have now enlarged the work, and again send it out upon a more extended mission. Catholics rejoiced over the dismay it carried into the ranks of Protestants, as did Free-Will Baptists, Campbellites, and Anti-Missionary Baptists, but what will they now say when as destructive a question is brought home to them, viz.: The baptisms of the Baptists--are they from heaven [valid], or of men--[invalid]? Answer as they may, they will inevitably find themselves unbaptized and unchurched.

J. R. GRAVES.

ARCADIA, near Memphis, January, 1881.

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INTRODUCTION.

TRI-LEMMA! Tri-lemma! It is not in the Dictionaries. Pray, what is a tri-lemma asks the Reader.

When one is pinned between two difficulties, we say he is in a Di-lemma.

When he is pinned between two difficulties, and pierced through by a third, may we not say he is in a

T R I - L E M M A ?

Read and decide if Protestantism is not in just such a situation.

J. R. G.

Nashville, Jan. 1, 1860.

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